Mirrors
by Chilly292
Summary: Toru is your average high schooler. Oh, except she is a famous singer, has a crazy manager, and happens to go to the super-rich school Ouran Academy, where she meets an odd group of super-rich kids. Her life, however, is changed drastically as she gets dragged along the adventures of the Ouran High School Host Club!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! You ready for your first day at a rich school? You just got your third album out! - Akira**

 **You know I'm only doing this because of that promise. - Toru**

 **Awwww don't be such a downer! Tell me about it later! And about the cute guys there! Bwahahaha! - Akira**

 **You pedophile. You're way too old. - Toru**

 **Ahhh you're so mean! I'm young at heart! - Akira**

I sighed as I set down my phone, and ignored the next few spam messages that Akira, my best friend and manager, sent me.

Yes, my manager. More on that later.

I looked critically over the school uniform I was wearing-a frilly dress with white stockings, and black shoes. Ew. Who could wear this?

Apparently the super rich girls that go to Ouran Academy.

Isn't it funny how I don't want to go to Ouran Academy, and there's no one to stop me, and yet I'm still going? For goodness sake, I even had a job that if I worked hard at, I could earn enough money to last me a lifetime!

...but there was that promise. I can't go back on it now!

Sucking in my breath, I chanted, 'Promise, promise' over and over again in my head as I made my way downstairs. The sounds of dishes being washed greeted my ears, and became louder as I neared the kitchen. Then I saw the usual glossy black hair and kind smile I have gotten used to during the past few years ever since that...incident.

My caretaker, Misaki. Basically my mom. Except we're not related by blood. But still totally cares for me like a mother. "Ok, I'm leaving now! Bye!"

Misaki turned her head and smiled tiredly at me. "Take care. Don't forget your bag! You definitely don't want to forget that."

"I should be the one who is telling you to take care. You're the one with the dark circles under her eyes!" I exclaimed before grabbing my stuff and shutting the door.

Then, I turned and made my way down the street. To a fancy rich school. With fancy rich people clothes on.

But, of course, there's nothing fancy or rich about me.

* * *

Within minutes, it came into view. The new school I would be attending. It was huge. Like, gigantic. Like, if you took the Empire State Building and multiplied it by 5. Not that I've ever seen the Empire State Building. But you get the idea.

The bells started ringing, and I hurried into the building. I would be late if I didn't pick up the pace. Imagine, being late on my first day here! And, I transferred right in the middle of the school year too!

Soon enough, after tons of stairs and long hallways, I ended up at a classroom. My classroom. I checked it with the classroom on my paper. Yup. There was no doubt about it.

With that, I took a deep breath and slowly opened the classroom door.

And do you know what the first thing I saw was?

Eyes.

Tons and tons of eyes.

Boring into me.

I nearly died.

* * *

I cleared my throat. "Uh...hello. I'm Toru. Toru Tanaka."

The teacher looked down at his piles of papers. "Ah. Miss Toru. We were waiting for you." Then, to the class, he said, "Class, this is Toru, the transfer student here. Toru, this is..." Then, he rattled off a bunch of names that I didn't remember, since I was too busy trying to remember my own name.

Then, the teacher finished his speech and pointed to an empty desk in front of a mischievous looking boy. "Please sit in that seat in front of Hikaru." The boy smirked.

Great. Just what I needed. A troublemaking boy sitting behind me. As I walked from the doorway to the seat, I noticed that he had a twin, whose name I think started with a K. And between the two was a brown-haired girl with chocolate brown eyes who was dressed like a boy. 'I guess rich people do whatever they want. If I cross-dressed, Misaki and Akira would flip out on me. Not that it's a bad thing.'

I seated myself and took out my books. The teacher opened his mouth.

And so the lesson began.

* * *

During lunch, I sat in the classroom, doodled, and wrote some poetry down while eating rice balls. Why the poetry, you ask? Because you never know if you can turn a poem into a new song. And why the doodling? Because it's fun. There isn't a better explanation than that.

I heard some shuffling beside me. 'Someone must have forgotten his or her things,' I thought to myself. 'Well, I'll keep on doing what I'm doing.'

Then, I heard a feminine voice. "Hi."

I looked up, and saw the cross-dresser sitting next to me and pulling out her lunch. "Oh, hi."

She smiled at me. "I'm Haruhi, in case you didn't remember in class. I hope you'll settle in nicely here at Ouran Academy."

I smiled back. "Thanks. Everyone seems nice here. Except..." Oops, I started to rattle off.

Haruhi looked confused. "Except who?"

I felt my cheeks reddening. "Except the twins that sit on either side of you. They...seem too mischievous for my taste."

To my surprise, Haruhi smiled. "They are. They're quite the troublemakers. As well as the others..." She drifted off.

Just as I was about to question who exactly "the others" were, I heard the twins' voices in the hallways, calling at the same time, "Haruhi! Haruhi! Where did you go this time?" As well as a kid calling, "Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" And a male voice saying, "Haruhi! My daughter! Come see daddy!"

There was an awkward silence between us. "Uh...I think your friends are looking for you. See you another time!" I smiled, quickly packed up my things, and stepped through the doorway. But just as I did, I saw light blue. And more light blue. I looked up, and saw a guy with black hair and handsome-ish features staring down at me. "Er...excuse me. I need to go." I stepped to the side, and ran off to who knows where. I passed by a blond guy, a shorter blond-haired guy standing particularly close to the person I ran into, the twins from class, and a black-haired person scribbling in a binder and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 'Those must be the others.'

"Haruhi seems nice enough, but she sure has some strange friends!" I laughed quietly to myself while running as fast as I could away.

Maybe it was just me, but I swore I heard Haruhi yell, "Let go of me senpai! And you just chased away a girl that could've been my friend!" And the kid voice saying, "Sorry, Haru-chan!"

Man, rich people really are weird.

* * *

Yes! The last period was done! I slammed my book shut. Now I could test out the songs I had been thinking of all day on the piano! Not only that, but there was a deserted music room on the third floor I overheard girls in class giggling about! Surely it would still have a piano!

I sprinted out of the classroom, clinging onto my bag, and raced up the stairs. Oh, dang it. These shoes and dress were not made for running. Luckily, I had an extra change of clothes that I still kept in with me at all times just in case. However, I never needed to use them...ever since the "bullying days."

Again, more on that later.

Five minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom, now in a hoodie and skinny jeans, with sneakers-my kind of clothes. Then, I raced up to the third floor.

On my way there, I heard tons of people whispering about a new album and how great it was. I smiled. It was nice that I had some supporting fans here.

Then in front of me was a grand door, filled with details of every sort. The sign above said that it was the music room. I got out my sheet music from my bag, as well as some of the poetry I had been writing during lunch. Then, clutching the papers to my chest, I slowly opened the door.

What I didn't see was a dusty old place, with maybe a couch or two and an out-of-tune piano.

I saw a glowing white, and rose petals swirling towards me. And, I think I heard a chorus of voices say, "Welcome!"

Rich people are really, really weird.

* * *

When the white faded, I saw the people that were searching for Haruhi earlier. Said girl was standing among them.

And, they were dressed in surfer outfits, with surfboards and all. However, Haruhi was in her uniform. What the hell?

The blond guy in the center spoke. "Ah, so you're the new transfer student here, correct? We're at your service, madam. I am Tamaki Suoh." Before I could even respond, I looked down and saw him kissing my fingertips.

And for the second time today, my tongue took over my mouth. "Ew, don't kiss me you pervert!"

Then, the next thing I knew, Tamaki was in a corner, sulking. You could almost see gloomy clouds hovering about him while "pervert" danced around his figure.

My opinion of rich people just dropped a whole lot.

* * *

Then, the other blond kid skipped up to me. He looked like he was 7 or 8. "Hey, Toru-chan! I'm Honey! Want to hold Usa-chan? Isn't she cute?" He held up a stuffed animal in my face.

Well, now that I was at it, there was no stopping me now. I looked critically from Honey, then to the pink bunny he was holding, and back to Honey. "How old are you, even? How do you know my name? And no, I would not like to hold your pink bunny, thank you very much."

Honey then made a face that would have made any girl collapse and blubber gibberish. His eyes teared up, and his smile turned into a frown. He then turned and ran to the person I had bumped into earlier. "Moriiiiiiiiii!"

"Uh..." All I could do was sweat drop and the scene. This little kid was friends with that...that...menacing looking guy who looked like he could beat up any person he wanted at any time he wanted?

I think you know what I'm about to say.

Rich people are reallllllllllllly weird.

* * *

After that little Honey-and-Mori incident (I'm so proud of myself; I remembered their names! But then again, they're pretty strange people, so it would be kind of hard not to forget), the nerdy-looking guy said slyly, "About your name. We keep track of every person in this school, so naturally we know about your past, your name, and where you live. Ah, yes. And my own name is Kyoya Otori, of the Otori Group."

"Wow. That's really creepy. You stalk everyone?" I swear my tongue won't stop moving!

He shoved his glasses up his nose, and continued to write in his notebook. "You may call it creepy, but for us it's just keeping tabs on everyone."

This time I managed to keep my mouth shut before I said anything else stupid.

"Say, Toru-chan, what are the papers for?" Honey jumped down from Mori's arms, getting over his crying.

"Oh, these?" I looked down. I had forgotten I was still holding my poetry. "They're my...private things. That you don't need to see."

Honey pouted. "But I want to see them!"

His big, wide eyes were met with cold ones. "No."

"Uwaaa Mori! Toru-chan's being mean to me!" Honey crawled back into Mori's arms.

The two twins in the back looked at each other, and shrugged. I guess this was normal in here. Haruhi looked like she would rather be anywhere but there. I felt the same. "Er...I'll go now. Bye!" I slipped out of the door and closed it on the chaos inside. But I was in such a hurry I basically slammed it. Oops. And I still didn't get to try out the songs on the piano. And I still didn't know all of their names.

But it wasn't like I was going to talk to them ever again. Maybe to Haruhi, but definitely not anyone else in that group.

* * *

"Did she leave?" Tamaki looked up from his sulking.

"Yes." Kyoya walked over to his laptop.

"So, Kyoya-sempai, what information do you have about her?" Haruhi asked.

"That's what I'm searching up right n-oh, that's strange." He frowned.

"What? What?" The twins peered over his shoulder. "Huh," they said in unison.

Everyone crowded around the laptop, and saw that there was almost no information at all about Toru, except for a picture of her, her birthday, gender, and full name. Her background wasn't inputted anywhere.

Suddenly, Tamaki raised his fist. "Well, that settles it!" He brought it down on the table, causing it to shake. "We have to get enough information about Toru to fill up this whole profile! And, at the end of the week, if we don't have enough information, we'll drag her in here ourselves, and get the information out of her!" He smiled triumphantly.

Just as Kyoya was going to say that that wasn't necessary, Tamaki pointed his index finger into the air and exclaimed excitedly, "Mission Know the New Girl is now in action!"

Kyoya closed his mouth and smiled. He would go along with Tamaki's crazy antics this time.

"So, we'll first infiltrate her house! Then, we'll take a look at all her possessions!"

"And how are we exactly going to break in?"

"Simple! Just grab the key when she takes it out and go off running!"

"But who will do the job? It's needs to be someone fit, just in case she's a good runner."

All the heads turned to Mori and Honey.

"Well, we can't do Mori; he's too tall."

"...so it'll be Honey."

"Okay, I'll do it. But I get to keep Usa-chan with me!"

* * *

 **By the way, I just want to say that I based Toru a lot after me. Except I'm not a famous singer. But she's a lot like me, except she's a bit more blunt and doesn't quite think about what she says as much as I do.**

 **Please review! I hope you like this fanfiction!**


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, which was a Friday, when I stepped out of the school I felt like someone was watching me. Or maybe I was too suspicious.

Not only that, but I found out the names of the twins from a few other girls. Hikaru and Kaoru turned out to be the twins' names. And, it turns out their whole group is called the "Host Club" or something and entertains girls. And for some reason, they kept on referring to Haruhi as a "he."

Plus, today, the Host Club kept asking me questions about my personal life. Hah, like I would tell them.

I walked back home, turning these thoughts over in my head, and the same feeling of being watched continued. I turned around several times, but there was nothing. Then, I reached my house. Just as I was about to slide my key into the keyhole, someone jumped in front of me. His gloved hand grabbed the key and ran off with it. "Hey!" I yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Sorry Toru-chan! But I need to do this!" As the thief ran away, I saw a pink bunny ear flopping along with him. "Honey...?"

"Hey, Honey! Give me back my key! I can't get into the house without it!" I ran off after him.

After a second or two, I decided that I really needed to get my key back, or else I couldn't get into my house. I cracked my knuckles. And then, I sprinted off after Honey and easily caught up with him, and leapt in front. Then, I stuck my hand out, demanding. "Give me my key back."

Honey frowned in his ninja costume. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

I really was tired of this. And I really wanted to go back home and rest. I didn't care that Honey looked like a little kid.

I whipped out my leg, but he jumped back with lightning fast reflexes. 'Hm. This is interesting.'

He then attacked, and I leaped back. We fought like that for a while. I needed to get him used to the rhythm of it. Then, when he least expected it, I would attack.

As he leaped forward to get me, I blocked the blow, and then shot my other hand towards his stomach. But he then blocked it, and shot his leg towards me! Geez, this kid was good at fighting despite his appearance.

I dodged his kick by a hair, and a glinting caught my eye. I looked for the source of it, and I saw my key sticking out of a pocket. Yes! Here was my chance!

I flipped over him, grabbed my key along the way, and ran as fast as I could down the sidewalk. Behind me, I heard some rustling, and the Ootori guy...what was his first name again? Oh, Kyoya. Kyoya was muttering something about good fighting skills and records. I looked back, and voilà! The whole gang was there, chatting. Haruhi was sighing, Tamaki was being his weird self, the twins were talking with Kyoya, Honey was crying about something, and Mori and...wait a minute.

I turned back around to look ahead of me, and then I bumped into something. I fell back onto the ground and looked up, scrunching my nose from the sunlight. Mori was calmly gazing down at me. What should I say?

"Er...sorry, Mori. But you shouldn't stand around in places where people might crash into you." I stood up and brushed myself off. "Well, bye! See you next time we meet!"

I continued the path back home. Misaki was probably back from her weekly Friday grocery shopping by now.

I ran and ran until I couldn't hear their voices anymore.

And then I ran into something else.

* * *

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed.

"Ahhhhhh!" I heard some other person scream.

"Ahhhhhh!" We both screamed as we tumbled onto the ground.

When I first looked up, I saw groceries everywhere. 'What the heck?'

I looked father up and I saw familiar face looking back at me. It was Misaki. We stared at each other for a while, and then awkwardly sat up.

"Sorry Misaki! I wasn't looking where I was going!" I said, brushing myself off for the second time, and then stooping to pick up the goods.

Misaki started to pick up the items as well. "It's okay. Besides, we can go home together, right? I'll make a biiiiiiig dinner tonight!" She spread her arms out wide with two cans in each hand.

I smiled. "Yeah."

We continued to walk together, chatting. Suddenly, I stopped.

Misaki turned around. "What's wrong?"

"Uh...nothing. Go on ahead. I think there was one more can left behind."

"Okay!" She grinned one of her childish smiles and I watched her continue on down the street.

As soon as she was out of sight, I spoke. "You can come out now."

"Damn!" I heard someone mutter, and then some rustling.

I turned around. "Why the hell are you following me? Unless you're planning to break into my house or something."

The whole Host Club, now in full view, tensed up. "Uh..."

I crossed my arms. This was really ticking me off. "Listen. This time I won't beat you all up. But next time, I will. And I won't hold back."

Amongst the crowd, I heard some teeth chattering. Good. I smirked.

As I turned around, I heard Honey whisper, "She's mean!"

I whipped around. "Of course I'm mean! You won't take anything seriously unless I say it in a mean way!"

The twins said simultaneously, "So you're actually a nice person, but treat us in a mean manner."

"I am NOT NICE!" I stormed back towards Misaki.

* * *

On Saturday, I went shopping. It was almost Misaki's birthday, after all. I had saved up a lot of money from my job to buy her something expensive, so I decided to go into a jewelry store and look at what they had there.

Right when I walked in, the clerk smiled at me. She was probably my age. Then, she looked behind me, saw something, blushed, and averted her eyes. I looked behind me, but all I saw were customers and jewelry. Huh. Weird.

I continued to look around the shop, and an Aquarius sign caught my eye. It was Misaki's birthstone, after all. It was a blue necklace with gemstones all around it, and in the center was a deep blue pendant, with beautiful swirls all around it like drops of water. It was absolutely perfect for Misaki. I knew when I presented it to her she would squeal and say that I spent too much money on such a little thing like her birthday. I smiled at the thought, and purchased it.

When I saw the receipt my eyes nearly bugged out. I wasn't used to purchasing such expensive things.

After I walked out of the store, I turned into a dark alleyway. It was sketchy, yes, but it was also the quicker way home. Suddenly, I heard some cackling behind me. Then, my arms were grabbed and twisted behind me. Ouch. That hurt.

Then, a creepy male's voice whispered next to my ear, "Why, it's a pretty little girl. You can come with us, and we'll show you a good time."

Well, I couldn't fight them with the strength they were using currently to hold my arms. What I needed was a distraction…that was it!

Obviously, these weren't experienced kidnappers. If they were, then they would have covered my mouth. "Help! Help! HEEEEEEEEEELPPP!" I screamed. I kept on screaming for help, while the guys holding me searched for something to shut me up with. They settled with a hand over my mouth. I continued to shout into the hand, and then, I bit it.

"Shit!" The guy pulled his hand back and probably was nursing it or doing something else stupid and wimpy.

Then other guys loosened their grips on me, and turned to look at him. I mean, come on! A baby could have bitten harder than that!

Anyway, I smirked at the fact that my plan worked perfectly, and quickly knocked them down with a few kicks and punches. Honestly, these people were like twigs! Just as I finished off the last person, I heard someone yelling, "-aaaaaaa!" I looked up, and something fell into my arms. And what I saw was...Honey? "Uh..."

The ball of blond hair looked up at me, and smiled cheerfully. "Oh, hey Toru-chan!"

Sighing, I put him down. "Now the rest of you can come out now."

"How did she know we were here too?" I heard the twins say.

I turned around, and faced them as Honey ran into Mori's arms. "Well, I knew that you were here because of Honey. Wherever Honey is, there's Mori. And the two of them wouldn't be following me by themselves, would they? They would need someone who is very good at coming up with stupid ideas like following people to tell them to. Someone stupid like Tamaki." The twins laughed as Tamaki steamed. "But, when Tamaki's involved, he of course invites the twins and Kyoya. And, if everyone else is going, then Haruhi has to be dragged along too. Am I correct in assuming this?"

Everyone nodded.

"And let me guess. You want more information about me?"

Everyone nodded again.

"Then why didn't you just say so?"

Everyone looked shocked. "What?"

Tamaki regained his composure quickly. "Because that would be just rude! We treat our ladies with the utmost respect!"

"You call Haruhi a commoner all the time and she's a girl. That's pretty rude, last time I checked," I countered.

Everyone stared at me. "So you know she's a girl?"

I rolled my eyes. "Duh. Just look at her! You'd have to be stupid if you needed to see her changing to know that she's a girl."

The twins snickered and glanced at Tamaki, who was turning an even brighter shade of red.

"Why did you shout for help, if you didn't need it then?" Honey asked.

I crossed my arms. "When I shouted for help, I knew they would have to loosen their grip in some way so I could beat them up, since I couldn't in the position I was put in. One way was for them to keep on loosening their grip on me while I was pretending to struggle. I mean, who would like to spend extra energy when you can use less?"

Honey nodded, staring at me as if he were a passionate church-goer and I was a pastor.

"Another way would be the way it happened. Someone clapped a hand over my mouth, I bit it, and when the person yelled and retracted in pain, his teammates were distracted. Therefore, they would loosen their grip on me while they looked over."

"That must have taken a lot of thinking." Haruhi commented.

I shrugged. "Nah. Either way, I would have been able to save myself. It's not like I'm helpless. I took self-defense classes for four years now."

Everyone stared.

"Anyway, if you had asked me about my personal life..."

Everyone perked up.

"I still wouldn't give any information to you creeps! You'll have to find out for yourselves!" I laughed and ran away, probably leaving them speechless.

Because that was the impression I was hoping for.


	3. Chapter 3

**Eeep! Thanks to all of those that reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! When I saw the email notifications, I couldn't stop smiling. My sister asked me if I was constipated. I told her to shut up.**

 **Aaaaanyways, I hope y'all like this kinda short chappie! Sorry if it seemed a little late; I have a lot of work to do, even though it's summer. -  
**

* * *

Ahhh! A whole week at Ouran, and I was doing pretty well! I stretched my arms out and grinned. Not to mention that Misaki's birthday was tomorrow. And that I could wear my normal clothes (not a dress!) to school without anyone judging too much. But of course, the Host Club (except for Haruhi since she was probably the only normal person in the club) was still following me around and asking me creepy questions. But I didn't really give anything away except for the things I intended to tell them. I got out of the classroom and ran out into the hallways, and made my way towards the third floor's music room to see how everyone (mostly Haruhi since she was my only friend so far) was doing.

As I was making my way up a flight of stairs, suddenly, I felt a whoosh. I looked to my left and right, and saw Hikaru and Kaoru on either side of me. "What the hell are you two doing?! Put me down!" I kicked my legs in the air.

"Sorry, no can do. Boss's orders," they replied together.

Boss? That would be Tamaki. Oh, when I saw him I was going to punch the life out of him and then wake him up and then slap him silly. Then, when he finally woke up again from being unconscious I was going to tie him to a stake and slowly stuff him into a boiling cauldron of-

"We're here." The twins stared ahead, and I looked up. There was a chair, with Mori looking standing by it. And what was he holding? It looked like...rope.

"You wouldn't!" I kicked my legs randomly. "Let go of meeeeeee! This is unfair! Let me goooooooo!"

Mori sat me in the chair gently, and tied me up in probably the least vicious way you could tie anyone up. "Uh..."

Tamaki, Honey, and Kyoya appeared. "Ah, it seems like our subject is here," Tamaki said, clapping his hands.

"Ew, it's the pervert," I said dully.

Tamaki returned to his own little corner, dark clouds and all.

Kyoya stepped forward. "You will answer all of our questions without any smart remarks. If you do happen to let one out..." He made an evil eye that would have made a plant wilt.

I shot an evil eye back, making the twins behind Kyoya shiver and Honey cling onto Mori.

That was a looooooong 30 seconds of just shooting evil eyes back and forth.

Kyoya interrupted the silence. "Ah, yes. Also, if this goes well we won't tell anyone about your secret."

I narrowed my eyes. Somehow they had gotten information about my job. Fine then.

"I'll answer to your questions. But if it gets too personal, I won't say anything. Deal?"

Kyoya nodded, and pulled up a chair as Haruhi came in through the door. "Ah. You are late as usual, Haruhi."

Haruhi looked over at Tamaki in his corner, and turned to me. "Did you insult him again?"

I shrugged as well as I could while bound in the ropes. "He totally deserved it."

Kyoya said, "Pull up a chair. We are going to question Toru here. Tamaki, come over here too."

Tamaki slowly dragged himself over and sat in a seat, still gloomy. Jeez. What a drama queen.

Everyone sat in a semi-circle around me, which was quite awkward for me, since I really hate being the center of attention.

"Okay," Kyoya said. "First question..."

And the interrogation began.

* * *

"What is your mother's name?"

"Ayumi Tanaka."

"And your father's?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

I shrugged. "Too personal."

"Ah. Okay." Kyoya nodded, writing in his journal viciously. "What does your mom do for a living?"

"She is...I mean, she was a doctor."

"Was?"

"Again, something I'd rather not go into."

"Hm." Kyoya seemed peeved. "Who is your legal guardian then?"

"Misaki Okuma."

"And what does she do for a living?"

"She's a nurse at a local hospital."

"What are your extracurricular activities?"

"I do swimming, tennis, and most forms of boating, as well as martial arts. I also play a lot of different instruments, but I mainly do piano and flute. Anything else?"

"Why do you dress in such commoner class clothing?"

"Excuse me?"

"You have enough money to go to Ouran and get a uniform here, as we had seen on your first day. Why do you dress in that type of clothing?"

"It's more comfortable. Duh."

"What's the real reason?"

"There is no real reason other than that reason."

Kyoya glared at me. I glared back. "Some people don't like to dress all rich and posh you know."

"You're suspicious."

"Yes, I am. And how did you know about my job?"

"Job?"

"Yeah, my secret? The one you blackmailed me with?"

"Oh, that was just a lie. Truthfully, we barely knew anything about you before this, and we still don't know much. Now, however, we just need to find out what your job is."

"What?! You...!"

And just like that, the lights went out.

* * *

"What...the...heck...is going...on?" I asked.

Kyoya's voice cut through the darkness. "The power merely went out. There is no need to panic."

"Mori!" I heard Honey say.

"Haruhi! My daughter! Stay close to daddy!"

"No way!"

"When will it turn back on?" Two voices said.

"Who knows?" I muttered.

"Isn't the electricity supposed to be secure here?" Haruhi asked.

"There are updates going on around here, and they only work when the school hours are over. They probably just made a minor mistake," Kyoya matter-of-factly replied.

The windows would provide some light. I moved closer, with the chair and all, in hopes of pushing the window curtains aside to let the light in so we could at least see. However, the leg of the chair bumped against something, and then I heard crashing. _'Oooops...'_

"Are you trying to escape?" Kyoya said.

"No, I was just trying to let the light in..."

"Don't let Toru-chan escape!"

"I honestly can't get anywhere with this chair anyways, guys..."

"Yaaaaaa!" I heard four voices scream as they tackled me.

"Aaaaaaah!" I yelled as I hit my head against the floor.

Then, the lights turned back on. Tamaki, the twins, and Honey were lying on the ground beside me. Kyoya and Haruhi were sitting calmly in their chairs. A table was tipped over, and next to it were shattered pieces of china. 'Uh oh...'

Kyoya stared at the mess, and then at me. "You now owe us 10,000,000 yen."

"Ten...million?!" I squeaked.

"You know, this situation seems kind of familiar..." Haruhi muttered sarcastically.

"I can't pay you back..." I said. "Not now anyway."

"That's okay." Kyoya pushed up his glasses. I relaxed. They were kinder than I thought.

"...we'll think of a way for you to pay." His eyes glinted with evilness.

I spoke too soon.

* * *

 **Heh heh! Sorry if this chapter seemed really short, but then it leads into chapter 4, which is definitely longer. And sorry again if I updated too slow! Actually, I wrote this a while ago, but I've been so busy I don't even have the time to post it up. I'll try to update more! Keep reviewing!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Anddddddd the next chapter! Hope y'all like this one! I'm sorry it took so long, but I was away at camp for the past few weeks so I guess I'm doing pretty well.**

* * *

Ever since that interview, the Host Club kept on dragging me to their club room every day, whether I liked it or not. And, since I was always caught trying to leave, I figured that I might as well tune out the giggling girls and the guys' annoying voices by listening to music and then doing my homework instead of attempting to escape.

So today we were all sitting in the music room on the third floor, a few minutes before the club would open. Tamaki and the twins were harassing Haruhi, as usual. Honey was wolfing down plate after plate of cakes, while Mori was calmly watching. Kyoya was typing away on his laptop doing whatever he did on that laptop of his. I was sitting next to Kyoya, doing math problems with my feet propped upon the table. Before, when Kyoya had told me to take my feet off, I told him that a lot of people did it. Then, he walked off, muttering something about commoners not breaking commoner habits. I resisted the urge to slap him across the face and give him a lecture about how us "commoners" were equal to "rich people" or whatever they called themselves.

Right when I was about to find the answer to question 23, Tamaki appeared in front of me and Kyoya, and said, "I have a fabulous idea!"

Without looking up, I said, "Uh huh. Continue on, pervert."

By now he was so used to me calling him a pervert (I did so at least once every day) he barely flinched. "We should do a street show! We could play music, and-"

The twins turned around to face Tamaki. "Sorry, Boss, but that's not a good idea."

Haruhi said, "Yeah. Only you and Toru know how to play instruments after all."

Honey pause from his cake rampage. "You know, Tama-chan, that's not a bad idea." He impaled a strawberry with his fork. "But Haruhi's right. We can't play instruments."

Kyoya looked up from his typing, his glasses glinting. "I don't think that will benefit us in any way, so I say no."

Mori shook his head silently.

Tamaki shrank into his little corner.

But you know who didn't reject the idea, right?

Me.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, right before the club opened, Kyoya looked up from his binder, his head whirring. "Doesn't Toru carry her flute everywhere she goes?"

"Yeah. You never noticed? It's kinda weird," the twins replied, shrugging.

"In that case, please get Toru from wherever she is. I have an idea."

* * *

A week passed. Then two. Tamaki wouldn't stop talking about the idea of a street show.

A street show, however, was a pretty good idea. It was fun making music, and the money would be a bonus. During my study halls, which were in the library, I planned everything out. It could be a birthday present for Tamaki. After all, it was April in a little less than a month anyway. I would use the time to plan. Tamaki could play the keyboard, I could do flute, and everyone else could do a percussion instrument or something.

Planning everything was difficult. I couldn't find something that an amateur could play. And, I needed to find the right sheet music, etc. My list of ideas was terrible:

 _Me - Flute  
Tamaki - Keyboard  
Hikaru and Kaoru - Maracas?  
Mori - Tambourine?  
Haruhi - No idea. _

_Honey - ..._

 _Kyoya - ...he kinda looks like someone who would play the violin. I can sort of picture it in my head...  
_  
I tried to imagine Kyoya playing the violin. Then I realized that maybe he didn't because he was probably studying business to take over his father's company. Learning a musical instrument wouldn't help him succeed his father.

"Blarrrgh I give up," I groaned and set my head on the table.

"On what?" I heard on either side of my ears.

"Aghhhhhh fu...!" I turned around in my chair and saw Hikaru and Kaoru standing there. "What are you two doing here?"

They shrugged. "The club has already started. We went all around the school to find you."

My eye twitched. "I don't have to come to the meetings every single day, right? It's not like I'm a member. I'm a girl, and everyone knows it, so I can't be like Haruhi. It would be weird for me to go if I'm not going to request any of you, and I'm not going to request any of you anytime soon."

"But there's your debt..." Hikaru started.

"...that you have to pay off to us. Did you-" Kaoru continued.

"Forget?" The two of them finished together.

I glared at the two of them. "No, I didn't forget. But there's no way for me to be able to pay you back except by paying you back in money. However, you actually need to give me time for that."

"But we're impatient," Hikaru said, shrugging.

"So, we decided that you will play music for the girls for as long as it takes!" Kaoru smiled evilly.

"For...as long as what takes?" I asked uneasily.

"For the girls to comment 5,000 times on the music! And, all of the comments have to be positive, not negative or neutral." Now both twins were grinning evilly.

I felt like I was drowning...in debt. "Five...thou...sand?" I squeaked out. How did they even come up with this?!

"Yep. That or you tell us what your part-time job is that you give us so little information about." The two of them crossed their arms.

I nearly fainted on the spot.

It was too bad I didn't, because that would have put me out of my misery for a bit.

* * *

I numbly followed Hikaru and Kaoru back to the classroom, books and flute in hand (since I always carry my music things with me...it's a habit). I could only choose the 5,000 comments deal. Why? I silently asked the heavens. What have I done to deserve this?

When the twins opened the door, I saw that the entire place was busy. Kyoya was standing by with his binder, and the rest of the hosts were busy entertaining the guests, who were squealing girls. What weirdos. Their acts looked so fake. Hikaru and Kaoru went over to a table of chatting girls, and seated themselves. Then, they started their whole act.

I walked through the transformed music room. Today's theme was a Hawaiian theme, I think. I nearly bumped into Kyoya, but I didn't because before I did, he warned, "Watch your step, Toru."

I blinked, and dumbly said, "Oh," since nothing really came to mind.

A handsome/creepy smirk graced Kyoya's face, and he turned his head towards me. "So, you heard about your debt and how to pay it off?"

I nodded. "Yes..."

"Good. Set up your things over there." His hand gestured in the general direction of an empty space.

Before I started over, I had an idea to worm my way out of this. "Don't you think it's a little weird for such gentlemen to be forcing a girl to work as a musician for them?" I smirked. Surely the girls would ask why I was working for them.

Kyoya was prepared. "No, I don't. All of the girls think that you wanted to spend a lot of time with us, and when we said we were all booked, you were so desperate that you offered to play music for the club."

"What?!" I half-whispered half-yelled.

He smirked. "Now, go off and play for us. Unless you want to pay us back. And if you did pay us back, you would have to give the money to us in a week. And if you didn't, we'll make you pay 5,000,000 additional yen for each hour it's late."

I opened my mouth, and when nothing came out, I closed it. I opened it, and then closed it again, with nothing to say. I sighed, unable to come up with a good response, and walked over to where I would be playing. I unpacked my flute, and assembled the pieces together. A stand was already there, prepared for me, and was exactly at the perfect height, so I didn't need to adjust it. Since I didn't want to warm up in front of everyone, I blew a few times directly into the flute so I wouldn't make much noise, but would still warm up the flute a little. I set a few pieces of sheet music onto the stand, and began.

At first I was a little shaky, but after a while I managed to play better. It wasn't the greatest without piano accompaniment, but it was better than no music at all. I played piece after piece, with only a minute between pieces to rest. After Morning by Edvard Grieg came Entr'acte by Bizet, and after that was Adagio by Mozart. I tried to play softer so as to not cover up everyone's talking, but during one of my breaks, Kyoya told me a girl had requested for me to play louder so she could hear better, so I did. Then, I had to play louder and louder because of requests until all of the girls was seated in a semi-circle around me, listening. I was extremely uncomfortable and nearly messed up several times, but I just remembered my debt and continued on.

Finally, it was closing time. I had played every single piece of music I had brought, and repeated some. My arms were dead tired, and my lips were dry, despite drinking several glasses of water. I think that's the longest I've ever played, I thought to myself. It probably was. And, I didn't even play for the whole time the club was open! I would have to find new flute music soon, or else I would have to repeat my songs like, 500 times each. Okay, not that much, but seriously.

Life really sucked.

And I was beginning to wonder whether I should plan a street show for Tamaki, considering how tired I was.

After everyone had gone, Kyoya walked up to me as I was taking a large gulp of water, jotting some things down in his binder. "We received 31 positive comments today. And, since quite a number of girls asked for a concert of your flute playing, we'll be generous and add 2 more comments to your count." He calls that generous? I asked myself. "Ah, yes. And you will be doing a concert."

 _PFFFFFFFT!_

I bent over behind the piano, gagging from my spit-take.

"What?! I did not bargain for this!" I shrieked.

"...we'll pay you 25 comments."

It really was funny how the currency was in "comments."

"30." I crossed my arms.

"26." He glowered at me.

"30."

"27 and that's it."

"30."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

We sent each other death glares. Finally, I sighed. "Fine. Since I'm a nice and generous person, I'll take 27."

I had no idea what Kyoya was thinking at that moment, but his facial expression read, "She calls _that_ generous?"

Considering it's me, well, _yeah_.

* * *

*March 9*

So the days crawled by desperately after that. Each weekday I was looking forward to the weekend, and each weekend I was dreading the weekdays. Even Misaki noticed, and she can be pretty slow on things sometimes.

After dinner, she sat down next to me and asked, "Toru, is there anything wrong? Are there people at school bullying you?"

"No. It's fine." I replied, doing my unfinished homework while my brain was thinking of other things rather than my homework. Suddenly, I had the best idea ever for the street show.

Yeah, I'm still planning it. I know, I'm so kind and generous.

Anyway, I suddenly stood up. Some papers fluttered onto the ground.

"Uh...Toru? You okay?" Misaki looked at me concerned.

"I..." I said as I marched out of the room, "...am fabulous!"

"Um...okay. That's good to know," she called after me as I raced up the stairs.

I grabbed a random sheet of paper and scribbled down my ideas before they could escape my head. I leaned back and sighed contentedly. This was going to perfect! I couldn't wait for everyone to see what I was planning.

* * *

"Say, Kyoya..." I started off, twiddling my fingers.

I noticed that everyone was listening closely to our conversation.

"Hm?" He looked up from his work.

Okay. If I was going to ask, I was going to ask straight out. I took a deep breath. "Haveyoueverplayedtheviolin?"

Kyoya blinked. "What?"

"Have...you ever played the violin?" I asked more normally.

Looking disappointed, everyone returned to what they were doing. I made a mental note to myself to ask them what they had been thinking I was going to say.

"Hm..." Kyoya said, tapping his chin with his pencil. "I did take a few lessons when I was a child. Why?"

Ignoring his question, I pressed on. "How well do you play?"

"I only know how to play a few scales, and can play most notes," was the reply.

"Do you have any time to spare?"

"I guess, if I can finish all of my work. Why?"

Here came the awkward part. "Can I...give you lessons?"

Honey stopped eating cake mid-bite. Mori's went from watching over Honey to looking at me, questioning. Tamaki stared, mouth slightly agape. The twins just gaped with wide eyes, and Haruhi just looked straight out confused. Kyoya was giving me a look, like, 'Wha...?' Then he cleared his throat.

"Ah...I guess...at what times?"

"Every other weekday, in this music room, right after the girls all leave. You have to practice at home too. If not at home, somewhere else. After all, one cannot get better at something without practicing, right?" I grinned, relieved that the hardest part was over.

"Uh...I guess..." Kyoya said.

"Do you have your own violin, or do I need to supply you with one?" I asked.

"I think I have one at home..." Kyoya said.

"Okay! Then, lessons start tomorrow!" I strolled out of the room. Tamaki better lessen the comments needed for my debt to be repaid, or all this hard work would go to waste!

* * *

 **Ahhhh I just realized that I need to update a lot if I want the events happening in this story to match the season and the time here in the U.S. even though this story plot takes place in Japan. Which I do want, since it might be easier to write for me, if, I don't know, my mind is in the same mind of Toru's…? Okay now I probably seem weird. Anyway, I'll be updating the next two chapters (yes, two!) really soon, so look out!**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, after a lot of flute playing, I clapped my hands. "Alright, Kyoya. Your violin!"

"Uh..." He pulled a violin case out. "It's here. I haven't played for a while, so I might be bad."

"That's okay! I won't laugh at your playing!" I promised. I had taught people older than him previously, and I had heard squeaking violins even in my dreams for months.

Then, Kyoya pulled out the violin and the bow. I took one look at it and I covered my mouth and turned away, shaking.

Haruhi stopped cleaning up for a bit. "Toru? Are you alright?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I burst out laughing. "Hahahahahaha! You're gonna...play with...that? Hahahahah! Sorry...justwaita...second..." I couldn't stop laughing. That violin was the size of a violin for a 6-year old, not a teenager! Just when I thought I had calmed down, I thought about Kyoya holding that tiny violin, and then burst out laughing all over it again. It seemed just so...stupid!

"Sorry..." I wheezed. "We...need to go...ou-" I started laughing again.

"Go out? Go out for what?" Kyoya looked confused.

Tamaki exclaimed, "Of course she's making the first move in your relationship, Kyoya! Oh, how sweet young love is! The way it blossoms, the way it-ow!"

Somehow I managed to hit Tamaki upside the head despite my laughing.

After I had (actually) calmed down, I finally said, "Kyoya, we need to get you a new violin. The one you're holding is for an average 6-year-old kid."

Kyoya blinked, and said, "Uh...okay."

Tamaki, however, was still daydreaming. Ew. I would never think about these guys that way. Actually, I don't think of any guys that way.

"Alright, this will be really quick. Let's go, Kyoya." I dragged him out of the classroom by the wrist. "I know a good music shop to go to."

On the way to the music shop, Kyoya asked, "Why do you want me to play violin?"

I stopped walking. "Well, you know that Tamaki's birthday is going to come up in a month..."

Kyoya figured it out quickly. "Ah. So you want to do that street show idea he had a while ago for his birthday present?"

"...yeah."

Kyoya nodded. Then, we continued on in silence until we reached the music shop. We opened up the door, and the bell tinkled.

When we went inside, I looked over at Kyoya. He was looking all over the place, taking everything in. Looks like he hadn't ever been in a music shop before.

"Hey, Hikari! What can I do for you today?" The manager, Hana, greeted me.

"Hikari?" Kyoya looked over at me.

"Uh...yeah! It's the name I use here just in case...there are any creeps around?" I offered lamely as an excuse.

Just as Hana was about to say something else, I shoved her into the back room.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" I hissed to her.

She blinked. "What? Your boyfriend doesn't know that you're a singer?"

"He's not even my boyfriend! I teach him violin, and he needs one! That's why I brought him here!" I snapped.

"Oh..."

"Toru?" Kyoya stuck his head inside. "We should hurry up."

"Right." I turned back to Hana. "Can we have a violin for him?"

"Sure!" She chirped over my shoulder, and headed into a room. "Anything for your boyfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend!" I screeched after her, turning bright red. I turned around and dragged Kyoya back to the front of the shop without looking him in the eyes. Hana was just so... so...embarrassing sometimes!

Hana came back out with a violin case. "Well, if he's not your boyfriend, then you two should start dating!" She had a particular twinkle in her eyes that kind of freaked me out.

I glared at her. "Just drop it, okay? We're not dating! And that's that!"

"Alright..." She said sing-songedly.

I unzipped the violin case and took the violin out with the bow. I shoved the two objects into Kyoya's hands, and continued to not look him in the eyes.

"Does it feel alright?" Hana studied Kyoya carefully.

"I guess..." I heard him answer.

"We'll take it," I said to Hana.

"Okay!" Hana happily said, took the violin and bow, and stuck it back into the case. Then, she handed the case over to Kyoya. "Here!"

Kyoya pulled out his wallet, and tons of shiny cards poked out of its pockets. "How much?"

Hana laughed and waved her hands. "Oh, you don't need to pay us! Hikari is a regular customer, so we let her rent instruments for free! And, since this is for her boyfr-"

"Alright, let's go," I muttered, and shoved Kyoya out of the shop. I could hear Hana's laughter tinkling out.

Ugh. How did just renting a stupid violin for Tamaki's birthday present turn into something like this? My secret was barely away from being discovered, and Hana thought I was dating...him...ew.

When I finish with this whole stupid present, it better be worth it.

It really is too bad I'm such a generous person.

* * *

"Alright, one more note-a low C. It's this finger here, this finger there, lift that one up..." I was coaching Kyoya violin, and so far, it was going-

I winced as a screechy low C was played.

-badly. I mean, how can you screech on a low C?! It's impossible!

But, there was still hope! Kyoya managed to remember most of the necessary notes, and if he practiced a lot, then everything would be great!

"Alright, class over. You better practice."

Kyoya sighed and took his beginner books. "'Kay. Bye." He then walked out.

I set the stand to one side, and sighed. Tomorrow I would have to bring the music needed.

* * *

"Where have you been?" A stern voice demanded.

Kyoya calmly replied, "The Host Club activities ran longer than usual. This will be happening for the next few weeks."

"Hn." Kyoya's father went off. He knew that in order to stay close to Tamaki's family's company, they would need to be close to Tamaki Suoh himself.

Later that night, Kyoya took out his violin that he hid from his father. And, because his room was completely soundproof, he began to practice.

He practiced and practiced until his fingers were sore. His arms were killing him. But, it was worth it. His playing improved a lot.

It's all for Tamaki, he said to himself.

It was for someone else too, though. Coincidentally, she was awake at that very moment too, slowly composing all of the music for the show.

* * *

When I arrived at school, I was tired. And cranky.

But that was nothing compared to Kyoya. He was a monster. Just one look at the girls and they quivered with fright.

In the music room, I didn't recognize any requests for songs to play. Instead, I snapped at anyone who would report the requests to me.

After everyone had cleaned up, I sat down in a random chair, annoyed at nothing. Kyoya walked over to me, eyes glinting. "You're sitting in my chair."

"I can sit in any friggin' chair I want to!" I stood up to look him closer in the face and to look more menacing.

"That's my chair!" He yelled back.

"Just because you usually sit in it doesn't make it your chair!"

"It technically does! Do you see anyone else sitting in it?!" He gestured to the others, who had been cleaning up but stopped to see where this conversation was going.

I yelled a few curse words that shouldn't be repeated, and then he said a few things that weren't exactly the nicest phrases to say.

"What happened to them?" Haruhi asked. The twins shrugged.

Tamaki went all out with his weirdness. "Obviously they're falling in love! But, they don't know what to do with their feelings so they're yell-"

"OH, SHUT UP!" I screamed and Kyoya shouted.

So, as usual, Tamaki returned to his emo corner and sat there like an idiot.

Then we kept on yelling swears (me) and insults (him) until we nearly clawed each other to death...over a chair. Yeah. That's the magic of being sleep-deprived.

Suddenly, a hand clamped down on me and another clamped down on Kyoya. Then, we moved farther and farther apart. I looked up to see Mori patting our heads, dusting off his hands, and returning to his place besides Honey.

I scowled and crossed my arms. I probably looked like a stuck-up 5-year-old, but I didn't care. Kyoya glared at me.

"Say sorry to each other," Mori said.

"No!" I glared at him. Now I definitely looked like a stuck-up 5-year-old.

I stared into Mori's eyes defiantly. You have no idea how scary it was. It was like...looking into hollows. Finally, I broke away from his gaze, pretending not to be intimidated, sighed, and looked down. "Fine." I looked up. "I'm sorry. Kyoya." I spat out his name.

Kyoya simply muttered, "I'm sorry Toru."

It was enough for Mori to stop going through his scary eye phase. How could someone as innocent-looking as Honey be best friends with him?

Mori pointed at the two violins sitting by the doorway.

I sighed. "Right...lessons." Kyoya looked no happier than me to have to spend 45 more minutes with each other.

But, it wasn't like I couldn't quit. I could quit whenever I wanted to. But, I had to do this. Once I set my mind to something, I won't go back. Besides, I worked so hard on this, if I gave up now, all of my hard work from before would be wasted.

"Ah. A concert! Lovely!" Tamaki sat himself down, out of this emo state, and put his two hands behind his head.

I glared at him. "Get out."

Of course, Tamaki just had to go back into his corner. It was convenient, though. I just pushed him all the way through the doors. Then, I closed the doors on him. He didn't even do anything.

"Okay." I turned around. "You all know how Tamaki wanted to do that street show right?"

Everyone nodded.

"So, for his birthday present, I planned a street show out!" I spread my arms out wide and grinned, despite my tantrum earlier.

I pulled my arms back in so they were folded across my chest. "However, you must keep this a secret from Tamaki. One spill, and who knows what will happen to you." I pounded my fist into the palm of my hand to show what I meant. I resisted a smirk at the nervous looking twins. They were the ones that I was particularly worried about. Honey was smarter than he looked. Mori never talked much anyway. Haruhi was reliable. And, well, Kyoya hadn't said anything so far, so I didn't think he would later.

"Okay. You all come here after the club activities are over next week Tuesday. I'll have your instruments here."

After everyone left, I set up everything. "Alright, begin your C scale," I instructed Kyoya. Then, I turned around to face the windows, my hands behind my back, and braced myself.

I heard him raise his violin and bow. I expected a screech, but actually, I heard...a note. A pretty decent one too. I whipped around as Kyoya continued to play the entire scale flawlessly. There were no squeaks, no mess-ups. I gaped. This was not the same person as the beginner student that I had yesterday.

"What?" Kyoya looked at me inquisitively.

"You...you practiced!" I stared at him, then his violin, then his bow. Then I looked back at him.

Kyoya rolled his eyes. "Yes, I practiced. You told me to yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but-" Suddenly, the pieces all fit together. "You...you spent all night practicing?"

Kyoya shrugged. "I couldn't get much sleep anyways."

"O-okay," I managed to say. Then, pulling myself together, and scolding myself for looking like a fool, I said, "Here are some of the pieces you'll need to learn." I pulled out several papers. "Take your time with them, because now we're ahead of schedule..." I was still trying to wrap my mind around the beautiful violin music I had just heard.

"Okay." He took them and stared at the notes. Then, he nodded. He looked at a paper and began to play. He played the notes that I had painstakingly tried out and wrote down on the paper all night! This time there were a few errors, but he was just sight reading. Huh. Maybe Kyoya really was the genius everyone except me recognized him as.

But I would never say that out loud to him.

"So?" Kyoya's voice called me back to the present.

"Oh, uh..." I pulled out my own violin and went over the mistakes he made. "So, you understand?" I asked him after reviewing.

"Huh? Oh, yeah..." Kyoya said. He looked as if he had been thinking about other things while I had been talking.

"You weren't listening, weren't you?" I asked suspiciously.

"I was."

"Then what did I just say about that note you had to play at the beginning?"

"..."

"Exactly!"

"I was listening! I just don't remember...?"

"You fool! That sounds more like you're convincing yourself than me!"

"It's the truth!"

"Yeah right!"

Yep, I wasn't going to recognize him as someone to be respected anytime soon. At least verbally, anyway.

* * *

 **I told ya I was gonna update soon! And please review! I'd love to hear your opinions, whether they're positive or negative!**


	6. Chapter 6

**And here is Chapter 6! I might not update in a while now, so yeah. Just giving you a little heads up!**

* * *

So much has happened during these past few days. Tamaki's birthday present was going to be a success if we kept on going that this rate! Today was the rehearsal date. The hardest part was getting Tamaki out of the classroom.

"Out." I pointed my finger towards the door.

Tamaki made puppy dog eyes at me.

I scowled. "Oh, you won't get anywhere with those eyes!"

Finally, I played my last card. I tilted my head to one side, as if listening. I wore a puzzled look on my face and walked over to the door. I stuck my head out, and said several times to no one, "Oh! Uh huh. Yes. Yep, now would be fine." I stuck my head back inside. "Hey, Tamaki, someone here really wants to see you. Now. It's an urgent matter. I think she's one of your clients or something."

Just like that, Tamaki headed straight out the doors. Man, he was gullible. As soon as he was out, I shut the door. Honey looked up at me, holding Usa-chan. "Toru, that was mean."

I sighed. "It's called tough love, Honey. Keep in mind his happy smile after, 'kay?" I tried to smile encouragingly.

Honey's face broke out into a smile. "Okay!" He skipped back to Mori.

"Okay, so what are we playing?" Haruhi asked.

"Okay, Haruhi, you'll be doing the shaker." I pulled one out and handed it over to her. I looked over to Honey. "A tambourine for you." I placed it into his hands. Then, I turned to Hikaru and Kaoru. "Right when I saw these, they reminded me of you two." I set up two stands and placed a pair of bongo drums on each. The twins looked over them, then each other, then back to the drums. Then, I looked over to Mori. "You will be the conga drum." I unwrapped a huge cover over a large object, revealing a light tan conga drum. It was something that seemed to fit Mori. Mori, however, was just staring at it.

"Alright. Let's do this."

* * *

I turned to Kyoya, who was patiently waiting. "Just practice your part. Remember to bring out the louder and softer tone qualities. A song isn't just notes. " Kyoya nodded, and went to playing.

I walked over to Haruhi. "Come over here, guys." I called to the other percussionists. "You can learn this instrument too." As soon as everyone gathered around, I took the shaker, and, well, shook it. It wasn't called a shaker for nothing. A vibrating, slightly maraca-like sound emitted from it. Then I tapped it, creating a different sound. "Your part is simple," I told Haruhi. "You have to tap and then shake it like this..." I tapped two times quickly, and then shook. I handed it over to Haruhi. "Practice! It always helps."

Then, I moved onto Honey as Haruhi began to vigorously shake and tap the shaker. "So, Honey. Your rhythm is a bit more complicated, but I think you can handle it." I took the tambourine and shook it once, then another time but about half as long as the first time, and then hit the center of it for the third beat. I repeated it two more times, and then handed it over to Honey, who looked more enthusiastic than ever.

I came over the twins' bongo drums. "Both of you need to play the same rhythm on here. See?" I tapped four times quickly on the edge, and then hit harder in the center longer for the fifth beat. I did this a few more times, and then made way for the two of them. The two of them began to play the rhythm.

I walked over to Mori's conga drum. "So, Mori. You put the drum between your legs like his." I clamped my knees on the drum. I put my right hand in the center and my left on the edge. With my right hand, I tapped out a short beat, a long beat, four short beats, and one long beat. After demonstrating, I helped Mori position it and then with the rhythm. Then, I went around the classroom to inspect everyone.

First, I went over to Kyoya. He was playing a few notes incorrectly. I pulled out my own violin and demonstrated the correct way to play it. "See how much nicer and smoother it sounds? That way, it will lead into the next few notes."

I walked over to Haruhi. I corrected the way she held the shaker, and made sure the rhythm was exact. For a bit, I watched Honey. He was shaking the tambourine widely, making everything slower, and not the crisp way I wanted it to be. That was a correction I made. Then, I inspected the Hitachiin twins. They were doing perfectly fine, except their hand positions weren't that great. It would actually make it harder for them to play like that. I readjusted their hands and moved on to Mori. To my surprise, there was absolutely nothing wrong. His drumming was exactly like what I demonstrated to him. "Have you ever played percussion before?"

Mori shrugged. "Once or twice."

I was impressed. "Well...then. Keep up with the good work!"

I stood back and observed the classroom as a whole. We were doing pretty well. It was amazing what music could do. However, there were a more rhythms to teach the percussionists.

I took out my own violin and began to play.

* * *

Today was Tamaki's birthday. Everyone learned everything I planned out, and I had made Kyoya memorize his music. At first, I wasn't sure how to present the piano part to Tamaki. Then, I decided on giving him two weeks to look at it and tell him it was a test to see how well he read music, taking the music back, and then giving it back to him when we got to the location.

Currently, I was leading Tamaki, who was blindfolded, through a busy sidewalk. Everyone was already on the corner with everything prepared.

I was so excited. All of my hard work was going to pay off! The thought of it made me smile.

"Toru? Where are we going?" Tamaki asked.

"Ah...you'll see," I replied vaguely.

Finally, we made it. I positioned Tamaki in front of a portable keyboard that was plugged to a socket in the wall. I undid the knot that covered his eyes, and peeled it off. "Ta-da!"

I walked around to the center, which was where I would be playing, and looked at Tamaki to see his reaction. He looked down at the keys of the piano, then to me, to Kyoya, to Haruhi, to Mori and Honey, and then to the twins. It took him about five seconds to digest everything, and then he realized what this was. His face broke out into a wide, kid-like smile, and he yelled, "A street show!"

Everyone just had to smile at his pleasure. I gestured to the piano. "Hey, start playing."

He stared at the notes on the pages, and exclaimed, "Hey, I know this!"

I smirked. "Yes, you do. Now start or else we'll be standing here this whole time!"

Tamaki began playing. After a few beats, I cued everyone in. Then, after that, I turned forward started to play my flute into the microphone in front of me. The music rang out into the air. I saw some people turn and listen. I smiled in my head, since I couldn't physically because I was playing the flute. I knew we would attract more attention if we played popular songs that a lot of people had heard before. Currently we were playing Pompeii by Bastille. I remembered trying this out several different ways on the piano.

But, today wasn't a special day only for Tamaki. It was going to be a special day for me too.

Actually, I wasn't going to tell them...they would still have to figure it out for themselves. It was just a push in the right direction.

* * *

Everything was going along beautifully. No one had played a wrong note. Yet, anyway.

Suddenly, all went quiet. This was the part with only the drum. Mori's part.

Bm-bm-bm-b-bm-bm-bm bm bm

Instead of playing, I kept my flute by my side. I opened my mouth, and sang into the microphone:

"But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?"

I turned around and smiled at everyone's shocked faces and continued.

"And if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before?"

People crowded around, listening to the music. It was a magical moment. I could feel the club's surprise, but also their rhythm returning after an awkward silence.

My smile became wider. I felt so proud of this. Just the thought of every moment spent working on this made me proud. The arguments, the successes, the downfalls. Everything that made up this music that we were giving to so many other people at this moment. I wondered that if I didn't go to Ouran, would this still have happened?

The song finished. People clapped and cheered. Some money was tossed into the violin case Kyoya left open. I turned around and signaled for Tamaki to start the next song. It was Rather Be by Clean Bandit.

My heart swelled up with joy again.

* * *

The last song we played was Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. There was only me, Kyoya, Tamaki, Honey, and either the twins or Mori playing. Haruhi was in a few times, but not a lot.

"Well I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music, do you?"

I closed my eyes and smiled. This was one of my favorite songs of all time.

"Well it goes like this: the fourth the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift…"

Slowly, I raised my hands and began clapping with the rhythm. The people watching did the same.

The third time the chorus came in, everyone was singing along. Our voices echoed into the steadily darkening sky.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu-u-u-u-ujah…"

We continued on like that, with me filling in the gaps of time when people didn't know the words, and everyone joining in when it came to the chorus.

"…Hallelu-u-u-u-ujah."

People clapped and more money was added to the huge heap we already had as Tamaki played the last few notes. By now, there was a huge crowd.

"Thank you, everyone!" I said into the microphone. "We appreciate your support, and we enjoy sharing this music with you! We hope to come here on this street again!"

People whooped and cheered again.

I cleaned up mostly everything. The keyboard was packed away, all the percussion instruments were in my bags, and everything was in a heap on the ground, except for my flute. I was carrying it with the strap over my shoulder. Kyoya would be taking his violin home to practice some more, since I rented it for exactly 5 weeks and it hadn't been that long yet.

Suddenly, a man that I didn't recognize with jet-black hair and glasses pushed to the front of the crowd. He glared at me menacingly. Then, his eyes trailed to Tamaki, then to Haruhi, to the Hitachiins, and then to Honey and Mori. Then, his gaze landed on Kyoya. Everyone looked nervous.

The man then just walked up to Kyoya, and said in a stern voice, "Kyoya, what are you doing here, begging for money?" His face was grave. "Is this what you've been doing when you said before that club activities were going to run late?!" He roared. Ah. So he was Kyoya's father.

The man then raised his hand, as if to slap Kyoya. Then, everything went in slow motion from there. I saw the hand getting closer and closer to Kyoya's face. I had to do something. I had to do something, if it was my fault Kyoya was going to get slapped in public!

So I ran between the two, and caught the man's hand. "Just what the hell," I said as acidly as I could, "do you think you're doing?"

* * *

Yoshio Otori cruised through a city in his limo after an important business meeting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mob of people. 'What is that?' He thought to himself. To satisfy his curiosity, he ordered the driver to stop and climbed out of the car. He looked disgustedly at all of the waste along the city sidewalk. Then, he reached the mob. He pushed to the center of it, and saw a girl with dark brown, almost black hair and innocent-looking chocolate brown eyes staring at him. Behind her was Tamaki Suoh. Then was the scholarship student, Haruhi Fujioka. The Hitachiin twins and the Haninozuka and the Morinozuka people were there also. Not believing this, his eyes went over to Kyoya, who was holding a violin case.

Yoshio walked up to Kyoya. "Kyoya, what are you doing here, begging for money?" Then, louder, he said, "Is this what you've been doing when you said before that club activities were going to run late?!"

He raised his hand. He was going to punish Kyoya for wrecking the Otori name by begging for money!

But, before Yoshio's hand could reach his son's face, the girl stepped into front of him, and grabbed the hand he was going to slap Kyoya with. "Just what the hell," she said, her voice dripping with venom, "do you think you're doing?"

Yoshio was caught off-guard. No one had ever defied him before. No one had ever spoken to him like that either. Her eyes that looked so sweet and innocent before were now narrowed and furious.

"I said, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" She yelled.

The man cleared his throat. "Why, I was teaching Kyoya a lesson about-"

"-about begging for money?" The girl interrupted. "We weren't begging for money. I know that Kyoya lives in a perfectly fine home, and gets enough to eat and drink every day. And, I know that everyone else in this group does too, myself included. So why would we beg for money if we had all of that? That wasn't begging for money. It was making music. The money earned was a bonus." The girl glared critically at Yoshio.

Kyoya placed a hand on her shoulder. "Toru, that's enough."

She whipped around, angry. "It's not enough! Your own father was about to slap you in public! IN PUBLIC!" Toru turned back towards Yoshio. "Do you realize how ashamed you should be?! I don't care if you're the CEO or whatever of some fancy shmancy company. When it comes all down to it, you're still as human as Kyoya is. There's no difference between your statuses, so you shouldn't be punishing Kyoya. I mean, how would you feel if Kyoya punished you in public just for making music? That's just straight out stupid."

She took a deep breath. 'Uh oh...' Thought everyone in the Host Club. She had been pretty bad when she had lost her temper before at them, but this was the most ticked off everyone had seen her.

But instead of yelling, she said with a deathly calm, "Many fathers out there haven't even slapped their sons once, much less in public. Instead, they're teaching their sons how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to, for goodness sake, learn! I bet you haven't had a single moment like that with Kyoya. I bet that he learned to swim from private swim coaches. I bet he learned how to ride a bike without anyone except for himself. I bet that he's closer with a stranger living in South Africa than with you! That's probably why he always acts so indifferent towards everyone at the Host Club."

She looked straight into his cold, calculating eyes. "I don't even have a father. He was gone before I was born. I always dreamed of having a dad when I was younger, and truth be told, sometimes I do nowadays too."

"But," she said the last words coldly. "If I had a father like you, I'd rather not have one at all."

She walked away, and took all the bags. How she managed, no one watching could understand. After about 5 steps, she stopped. "Oh yeah, and one more thing." She turned around. "This is our birthday present for you, Tamaki. Happy birthday. It's fun watching you get older and more perverted every day." Toru smiled a bittersweet smile at Tamaki, turned around, and continued walking.

All of a sudden, Kyoya's father began laughing, harder than anyone, even Kyoya, had heard him laugh. It was obvious that Toru was slightly uncomfortable with the laughter, because her foot hesitated and shook slightly when she walked forward, and her pace slowed down. Kyoya's dad called out, "You made a good speech there! Tell me, what's your full name, Toru?"

Toru picked up her walking pace as she answered. "Toru Tanaka."

But then she stopped suddenly and turned her head around. "But you probably know me by a different, more common name. A name you'll have to figure out for yourself."

She continued walking, the other instruments in her arms, and her flute swinging by her side, as if it were waving a silent goodbye.

* * *

 **Oh yeah and I would like to point out that I used English/American songs for this because I don't know any Japanese songs, because, as I said before, I live in America. I thought about looking for a few popular Japanese songs, but I realized it would be kinda (okay, really) awkward for me write, so I just used songs in English. Sorry if you wanted Japanese songs in here!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, y'all! Remember me? No? How long has it been? 5 or 6 months?**

 **So I was looking through my email, and found that I had 2 new followers/favorites, even after all this time. Who knew?**

 **And then, I found out that today was Haruhi's birthday.**

 **So I decided to post a chapter in honor of this. ;)**

 **Also, to summarize if you've forgotten what happened, because I know I have:**

 **Toru moves to a new school, where the OHSHC meets her, finds out information about her, etc. She breaks a set of china, and has to play background music while the club is operating in order to repay her debt of ten million yen. For Tamaki's birthday, she has a street show for him because he mentioned wanting one. The last chapter concludes with Toru teaching Kyoya's father a lesson on parenthood, and saying that she's known by a more popular name.**

 **So. Read on!**

* * *

Akira really wanted me to have a concert. She had been bugging me for about four weeks.

Before, I had only done concerts Sia-style, so that the audience couldn't see my face, and only a few at that. But the press was getting curious, and if I didn't do something soon, people would soon forget about me, profits would soon dwindle, and I would be broke. I hadn't made enough to support myself for the rest of my lifetime.

So finally, I had cracked. After months and months of preparation, I'm having my concert. It was a bit rushed, but I guess it was better than nothing.

I closed my eyes and remembered when Akira and I put the tickets up for sale. They had sold out in two minutes.

I could hear it. The crowd. A feeling of nervousness swelled up inside me, but it quickly dimmed down as I remembered what my old piano teacher said to me when I told her I always got too nervous.

 _"Well, when you ask a bride before she gets married how she feels, what does she say?"_

 _"That she's nervous?"_

 _"That's right. And in ten years, ask her how she felt when she got married. What does she say?"_

 _"That she was nervous?"_

 _"No. She says that she's_ excited."

I smiled, and stepped out onto the stage, fulling facing the audience. The paparazzi that Akira had let in gasped before snapping away at photos, one after the next. I didn't shy away, like I was used to doing. I faced them, and speaking into my mic, "Hey, guys, so glad you came to my concert…"

The crowd roared, louder than ever.

* * *

"Finally that's over," I sighed as I flopped into a chair. "That was probably the most exhausting thing ever. Especially with the reporters screaming questions in my face."

Akira shrugged, typing away. "It comes with fame."

Misaki was cooking dinner for us in the kitchen, and the silence was filed with the sound of sizzling food.

I was forgetting something. What was it? I tried to search deep into my memory, but the only thing I thought of was the crowd screaming again, the noise. But a guilty feeling nagged away at me. It was something important, very important. But I couldn't remember!

Then it resurfaced, finally brought back to me. "Oh, shit!" I practically screamed as I ran out of my house. I heard Misaki call out after me, "Hey, put a coat on! It's cold!"

I ran to a nearby shop, where jewelry lined the walls. I looked around, muttering, "Aquarius," feeling like this had happened before when it hit me: Haruhi and Misaki had the same horoscope sign! I looked around, and found that they were still selling the necklace I had bought for Misaki. Another one, however, caught my eye. It was light blue, and had clear crystals surrounding it. It was something that Haruhi would wear, as it was simple looking enough. I took it.

When I walked out the store, I walked towards Haruhi's house, swinging my bag and humming. Out of the blue, a paparazzi lept in front of me.

"Hikari! Why have you kept your appearance so secret? Are you making another album?"

"U-uh…" I stuttered, trying to avoid a cameraman that had miraculously appeared. The only thought that replayed in my mind was, _how did everyone find me so quickly?_

More and more people came forth. The flashes were blinding me. I couldn't see, I couldn't see…

A strong grip grabbed at my arm and pulled me out of the crowd, and I stumbled to come face-to-face with Haruhi. Letting out a sigh of relief, I hugged her until she said, "Okay, Toru…can't breathe…"

I pulled back, and she yelled over the questions and chaos, "Let's go somewhere we can talk!"

I nodded, and let Haruhi pull me away from the crowd, from the screaming.

* * *

When we finally reached Haruhi's house, I handed my gift bag to her. "Sorry. I forgot it was your birthday," I apologized.

Haruhi poked inside and pulled out the necklace. Immediately, her eyes flew to my face. "How much did you pay for this?" she questioned suspiciously.

"Uh…about 700 (about 6 dollars) yen?" I nervously shifted my eyes.

"Really?"

"Uh huh."

"Show me the receipt."

I grinned. I was prepared for this part. "I ripped it up and threw it away. Want me to put it on for you?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Just then, a woman entered the room. "Oh Haruhi!" she flew to her. "Where did you steal this necklace from?!"

"I didn't steal it!" Haruhi protested.

"Nonsense!"

"Actually…" I raised my hand awkwardly. "I bought it for her."

"Ah." The woman stepped back and nodded. "I approve. You are declared not guilty, Haruhi."

As the woman left the room, Haruhi muttered, "Sorry about my dad."

"Yep." I nodded awkwardly. Dad.

* * *

We chatted for a while, until it got very late. We just sold our car, since the only reason we would use it was for my job, and when that happened, we used Akira's van. Haruhi's car was being fixed, so that was out of the question. I would either have to walk home, or-

"Stay over with us!" Haruhi's dad chirped.

* * *

 **I'm sorry, I know this chapter was a bit weird. And maybe seemed a bit rushed. And my writing style's changed. But please cut some slack, since it's been half a year, and a lot happened. Please review! Thanks for staying with this story!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! I wasn't planning on posting again so soon (compared to the 6-month gap anyway.) But yesterday was Honey's birthday so hey why not?**

* * *

After being put through a lot of fuss by Haruhi's dad, I finally found myself on a soft bed, burying my face in a pillow. Akira and Misaki had only been too happy when I had told them I'd be staying over, saying that I didn't hang out with "girls my age" enough. Psh.

Haruhi padded into the room, looking exhausted from dealing with her dad. She flopped onto her own bed, and sighed. "Sorry you got dragged into this."

"Nah, it's fine." I laughed. "We've never really talked before anyway."

"So." Haruhi pulled her legs into a crisscross position. "How was your concert?"

I blinked. "Wait a minute, you know?"

"Hm…" Haruhi tapped her chin. "You said there was a different name that you go by to Kyoya's father. I see a person on TV that looks remarkably like you on the news. And just a couple of hours ago, I just pulled you out of a mob of reporters and cameramen screaming, 'Hikari.' If that doesn't scream your identity, I don't know what would."

I laughed. "Fair point."

"But I figured it out after the street show. We all did. Except for Tamaki. We were talking about it, thinking that he had known, but he didn't." Haruhi gave a smile at the end that almost looked…dare I say it? Almost looked dreamy.

I nearly laughed, but refrained by bulging out my cheeks and trying not to smile. Haruhi tilted her head and queried, "What's so funny?"

I burst out laughing. "You like him!"

Haruhi's face turned a bright shade of red. "I do not!"

"Don't deny it. Denial is the first part of liking someone." I wagged my finger and smirked. "And he likes you too. I see you two making lovey-dovey eyes at each other every day, and I'm like, just get a room already."

"Shut up!" Haruhi lunged at me, but missed as I ducked.

I popped back up, tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. "Can I be the godmother of your first kid?"

"Well…well, _you like Kyoya!_ " Haruhi sputtered, her face a radiant red.

I stopped laughing. "Wait, what?"

"You like him. And he likes you." Haruhi was the one smirking this time. "Wow. Toru Tanaka, the first person in history to be able to melt the frozen heart of the ice prince!"

I scoffed, looking casual on the outside while on the inside, I wanted to crawl into a hole and rot. "That's all lies. Where did you get that from?"

"Denial is the first part of liking someone. I see you looking at each other every day and I'm like, just get a room already." Haruhi wagged her finger.

"Shut up!"

"Can I be the godmother of your first kid?"

"No!"

"So you _are_ having kids, but I just won't be the godmother?"

"No!"

"Girls!" Haruhi's dad called sing-songedly. "You have to go to bed now!"

Sighing, we crawled inside of our blankets, and Haruhi turned off her light. After a few minutes in the dark, I said, "Haruhi?"

"Hm?"

"Sorry I missed your birthday today, with so much going on. We should go out tomorrow, for a late birthday celebration. Yeah?"

"Hm…"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"On one condition. The rest of the group has to come along."

"Why?"

"Because." I hear Haruhi smiling in her voice.

"So you can see your fiancé?"

"Shut up."

* * *

When I woke up, I found that Haruhi was already gone. Off to get the others, I imagine, I thought.

As I walked into the kitchen, I found a little note on the counter. _Get dressed, and hurry up. Meet us in front of the little café near your house at 1:00._

I looked at the clock, which read 11. So I had two hours.

Half an hour later, I was walking home. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a black circle peeking out of a bush, a rainbow shimmer of light reflecting off of it. I ignored it, even when it made a small beeping noise and a shutter sound.

I ran back home, and instead of going straight into my house, I sprinted past it and turned. Since our house was set on the edge of town, where there was mainly forest and such beyond, I went into the woods, where I looped back into my backyard and went inside. The reporters probably wouldn't be able to figure out I lived here then.

I strolled in casually, evening out my breath so Misaki and Akira wouldn't ask why I was panting.

"Why hello there," Akira said, turning around in my chair, putting her palms together and waving her fingers like an evil villain. "I've been waiting for you."

"We," Misaki corrected. "We've been waiting for you."

"'Scuse me." I edged around them. "I want to go to my room. Call me down when it's 12:30. I have to go somewhere."

"Ooh, where?" Akira stood up excitedly. "By the way, your concert was a success. It's all over the news."

Ignoring the second part of her statement, I spoke. "I'm just taking Haruhi out as a birthday treat."

"This is our chance!"

"Huh?" I turned around to see Akira and Misaki whispering violently.

They turned to me, their wide smiles slowly getting bigger. They both chuckled.

* * *

"No…" I moaned. "Stop, stop, stop…"

Sweat was rolling off the top of my forehead. My fists were clenched. I couldn't take it, I couldn't…

"Let's try on another one, shall we?" Akira chirped. "Try on this one!" She held out what looked to be clothing that was the size for a two-year old.

"Uh…what about this?" Misaki held out some clothing that seemed reasonably sized, and looked okay. A leather jacket, a t-shirt, and jeans.

"Yes," I blurted out before Akira could say anything.

* * *

Before I knew it, we were in the car with new clothes, and makeup plastered on my face. In other words, I felt like one of those mannequins in the store windows.

I looked at my phone. 12:57. Only 3 minutes.

We pulled up in front of the café. "Okay, I gotta go!" I practically leaped out of the car, and slammed the door shut.

Once I got in front of the café, I found that only Kyoya was outside, burying his face in his scarf and trying to stay warm. A glance at my phone told me it was 1.

"Hey," I greeted him as I stepped closer. "Where's everyone else?"

He shrugged. "They're not here."

"Hm…" I thought for a bit. "Maybe they're just late. Wanna wait inside?" I cocked my head to the side.

He shrugged. "Sure."

As soon as we sat down, my phone beeped. I looked down, read the message, and scowled. "Why, you little…"

"Hm?" Kyoya looked up.

I reread the message. _'Sorry Toru. For some weird reason, Tamaki, Honey, Mori, Hikaru, Kaoru and I all caught colds. Go have fun with Kyoya without us! ;)_

 _P.S. Can I please be the godmother of your first kid?'_

* * *

 **Behehe. Did anyone get the Black Butler part? No? Okay…**

 **Gosh, this chapter went by fast. REVIEW! I live off of what you have to say. The comments are almost as important as food. Key word: almost.**

 **But seriously. Review. I don't mind if it's negative, as long as it's helpful. The reviews are my motivation to post again!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey y'all. It's been a long time…again, huh?**

 **So sorry for slacking off (again). I figured my story wasn't too interesting if not a lot of people commented (and those who did, thank you!).**

 **And I'm not trying to pry for more comments! I'm fine with things just the way they are now. Thank you for staying with me, throughout all my cringy writing in the past! And it really was cringy. I looked back at my previous chapters and I think I'll go through and edit them all.**

 **I'm making this one long to make up for all the time I've missed! Thank you again, for following, favoriting, and commenting!**

* * *

"So?" I looked up, and found myself staring into Kyoya's dark eyes.

Hastily, my cheeks slightly reddening, I looked over at the counter where people were lining up to order. Wow, such fine artistry, to be able to wipe the surface down to perfection…and the way it caught the light was…extraordinary…?

"Everyone came down with colds," I muttered, still staring at the counter. Amazing craftsmanship, I'm telling you.

"Is that so? Well, that's unfortunate."

There was a moment of awkward silence while I continued to observe the masterpiece just a couple of yards away.

"Well, I'm going to get a drink. What about you?" Kyoya stood up.

"O-oh, y-yeah." I hastily stood up and got into line. He followed.

We got our drinks, which Kyoya had insisted upon paying for — wow, what a gentleman — and headed outside. There was a light snow, but it wasn't too bad. Along the sides were shops of every sort getting dusted with a thin layer of powder. The same silence as before settled upon us again as we walked down the snow-covered street. I took a sip of my hot chocolate. It burned my tongue.

Uh…so what now? Do we just say well, it was nice to see you again and part ways? No…that's so awkward. Haruhi, how could you do this to me? Not to mention, any minute now some paparazzi could pop out and start snapping pictures like there was no tomorrow. But then again, part of my face was covered by my scarf and I was wearing sunglasses that Akira and Misaki had forced on me. Plus, I didn't have my wig on so I was even harder to recognize.

"So…what are we supposed to do?" I broke the silence.

"I…don't really know."

"Woah. Woah. Did the words 'I don't know' literally come out of the great and oh-so-powerful Kyoya just now?" I held my hands up.

"Was there a complime -"

"Nuh uh. Nope." I wagged a finger. "I'm going to quote you on that one!" I raised my voice a few octaves to imitate the girls we served at the club. "'Toru, are you going to really perform a concert for all of us on the flute?'" I then lowered my voice so I sounded like an old man. "'Uh, I…don't know.'"

"My voice isn't that deep. And yes, you do know. You are going to perform."

"Fine then." I raised my voice back up so it sounded like the girls' again and pushed nonexistent glasses up the bridge of my nose. "My name's Kyoya, and even though I act like a smartass 99 percent of the time and an ass for the rest, I don't know!"

"Well, you act like an ass 99 percent of the time and not even close to smart the rest!"

"You did not just go there, you litt-" A little shop, hidden by all the other bigger, more colorful ones caught my eye. And on the front, written in gold curlicue letters, was a single magical word: chocolate.

"Let's go in there!" I grabbed Kyoya's arm and raced inside. A little bell tinkled as I pushed open the door.

I felt like I had been transported to one of my childhood fantasies. A sweet, aromatic smell hung in the air. And there was chocolate everyone. Chocolate cake, chocolate marshmallows, chocolate-covered marshmallows…

"Welcome!" A middle-aged woman greeted us as she stocked up the shelves with more sweets.

I smiled right back at her and continued to stare in awe at everything. Now, if I thought that counter from before was beautiful, then this shop was the whole frickin' Louvre.

After a busy 15 minutes browsing over what I should get, I came up with a small cake and two small bags filled to the brim with assorted chocolates and chocolate-dipped foods. I skipped back out happily. Kyoya didn't get anything, being the boring and lame person that he was.

And just like that, the awkward silence from before was dispelled. Neither Kyoya nor I had a particular interest in fashion, so we just walked along the street until there was a shop (most likely selling food) caught my eye. And all along the way, of course, I made fun of Kyoya, much to his chagrin.

As I was enjoying my second cup of hot chocolate, Kyoya asked, "So, there's something I've been wondering."

"Mhm. Shoot." I breathed, watching my breath swirl in the cold winter air.

"How did you get involved with music? How did you get so involved that you became a musician as a job?"

"Hm." I watched the snowflakes fall from above. "Well, I guess it started with Mis…no, more like before I was born. Oh well, I might as well tell you the whole thing now. You're gonna keep on investigating until you find out anyway…"

* * *

"So my dad ran out on us before I was even born. He did some weird sketchy stuff, the debts piled up, and then he ditched. My mom then worked really hard as a doctor to support us. She was usually out of the house, and always had a friend taking care of me.

"When I was five, Misaki came along. That's the lady that you saw when you were stalking me before. She came from a crazy rich family, and fell in love with someone that you would call a 'commoner.' Her parents disapproved, so she ran away to be with him. A few years after their marriage, he took all her money and ran away. She tried to return to her family, but they turned her away, saying that she had disgraced them or some bullshit like that." I huffed angrily just thinking about it. Just then I noticed our location. Absentmindedly I had walked into a department store, and Kyoya had followed without a word. Oh well.

I continued. "Misaki was on the streets, asking for money when my mom saw her and took her to some restaurant and bought her food, even though we were financially unstable ourselves. My mom heard her story and deemed her worthy to take care of me and be my tutor. In exchange, Misaki would have food and bedding. Now that I think about it, it was rather crazy of my mom to trust a stranger like that so easily. For all she knew, Misaki could've been lying about her past. But I guess she just softened, thinking about falling in love with some guy who ran away in the end.

"Misaki agreed to the deal. And you know how I said that she came from a crazy rich family? Well, as a result of that, she's really educated. She taught me English, and then Latin. Aside from the regular school stuff, somehow we moved into the piano too." I spotted a hat, popped it on my head, and looked in a mirror. I considered buying it, and then put it back on the shelf. No point in buying something I didn't need.

I turned, and saw that Kyoya was perplexed. "And I know what you're thinking. Did Misaki have any friends to rely on? Well, she had too much pride for that, to turn up on a friend's doorstep and asking to stay. And if Misaki knew so much, why couldn't she become a teacher or a tutor as a job? She tried. She applied for positions everywhere, but no one wanted a person with no actual experience or a degree in any sort of education. She never went to college; she got all the education needed at home. And then she tried working for restaurants or shops. It worked, but the little pay wasn't enough. She took to the streets and worked, until she met my mom.

"And when I was 8, I pretty much was a loner. I probably was before and just hadn't noticed it, but it was then I realized. For group projects or when the teacher asked us to find a partner, I had nobody. Whether they were purposely excluding me or not, I was alone. So to distract myself from that, I took up the flute. Then the guitar. Then the violin, the cello, and a bunch of other instruments. I learned all these things from the friends my mom and Misaki had, especially Misaki's professional musician friends. I'm not some sort of prodigy - I just put a lot of time into this stuff while other kids were playing video games or having playdates and whatever."

I cut off my story when I noticed a row of sample makeup and dragged Kyoya over. I picked up some blush and turned, grinning evilly. His eyes widened in horror. "No way am I-"

"If you don't, I won't tell you the rest." I could see the hesitation and curiosity in his eyes before he sighed and relented. Smirking over my victory, I dusted some of the stuff all over his face while he squeezed his eyes shut, looking pained. Then I reached for some pink eyeshadow as I continued.

"When I was 9 or 10, I started writing down my thoughts whenever I felt alone. It was a form of therapy, and since I had nothing else to do because I had no friends, I could write a lot. And I gotta say, it was pretty fun. I could say whatever I wanted to without anyone judging me."

I put down the eyeshadow and took pencil eyeliner. "I'm gonna try something my makeup artist taught me."

Eyes still shut, he asked, "Have you done it before? Wait, don't answer that qu-"

"Nope!" I popped the p. "And my makeup artist didn't technically teach me. I'm just doing this how I think she does it."

He muttered something under his breath as I continued.

"Misaki found my stash of writing while cleaning my room. She suggested that I should turn them into song lyrics. It was then I took up songwriting. Then I won a bunch of singing competitions, not with my work, just covers of other songs. And then I met a woman at one of the competitions, saying that I had potential. Her name's Akira. She became my manager, and like a parent.

"So I made my first album, and it didn't do well. No one cares about some nameless kid anyway, right? Not to mention, I sold it under a fake name so I was even less famous than if I had used my real name! But then an actor took interest in my album and bought it. He posted something about it online, and it went big. I was only 12!"

I paused and took a step back from my work. "Hm…"

"What is it?" Kyoya's voice shook a little. I held back my laughter.

I leaned closer and continued drawing on his eyelid. "Nothing, nothing. It's actually looking pret -whoops!"

"What did you do?" Kyoya's eyes flew open and stared directly into mine. It was then I realized how close our faces were. My breath hitched and I pulled back, trying to recompose myself.

Then I noticed Kyoya's horrified look and started laughing. "Nothing, it was just a joke! Chill, man!" I slapped him on the shoulder, and he winced. Huh. I didn't think I hit him that hard. Or maybe he was just a wimp. More likely the latter.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

"Sorry, grandpa, I won't pull that on you again. Close your eyes again. Just don't think about it, and boom! It'll be all over."

"That's what my doctor says before he gives me a shot …" He still closed his eyes as I put the finishing touches on, before grabbing some lipstick and smearing it on.

"And there!" I sat back, admiring my creation.

Kyoya slowly opened his eyes back up, as if he was waking up and the light was burning his eyes. "Can I…see a mirror?"

I gestured grandly. "Go ahead!"

He looked in one of the mirrors behind me. "It's not bad…"

"See?" I puffed out my chest.

"…but remind me, when did I join the circus?"

"It's not that bad!" I protested.

And it really wasn't. It was just some heavy blush, pink eyeshadow, bright lipstick, and an attempted cat-eye.

Okay, never mind. I could see his point. Well, if it was that bad, I would use this moment to the fullest.

I lifted my sunglasses up and pulled the scarf down, whipping out my phone. "Kyoya!"

He turned to me, unprepared as I snapped a photo. "Yes, Kyoya! Rocking that deer-in-the-headlights look!"

His eyes narrowed as I happily tapped a few buttons here and there on the screen. "Delete it this very instant or-"

"And send!" I tapped the final button.

He froze. "Who did you send it to?"

To answer his own question, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and his eyes widened. "You sent it to the group chat?!"

"That's right!" I cheerfully tossed my phone back into my bag. "So the rest of our little group can see how beautiful you are!"

"I swear, I am going to ki-"

"Um, excuse me?" I looked down to see two girls, maybe 7 or 8, nervously shifting their feet and not knowing where to look. "Um, are you Hikari?"

I froze. Should I lie so I could just continue on peacefully? Or should I just tell them the truth? I could see Kyoya was waiting for my answer too.

It was a split second decision when I saw their eyes, so innocent and wishful. And I could see their mothers behind them, wishing them the best. I kneeled down and smiled. "Yeah, I am."

They looked at each other excitedly, before pulling out pens and paper. "Can you sign your autograph?"

"No problem! What's your name?" I asked the one with black hair.

"A-Anri."

"Alright!" I signed the paper with a flourish, before turning to the other girl. "And your name?"

"I'm Mika!"

I signed her paper as well, and returned them. "Is there anything else?"

"Uh…maybe a picture?"

"No problem!" Their mothers came up and gratefully smiled at me as they snapped away. As I stood up, I glanced at Kyoya, who was irritably wiping the makeup off his face and chuckled. I turned back to the girls, I asked, "Are you guys all set now? Any questions?"

"Um…" The two looked at each other before Mika asked innocently, "Is that guy your boyfriend?"

"Huh?" It took me a few seconds to realize they meant Kyoya and my cheeks heated up. "O-Oh, no way. Not a chance. Nope. He's a…friend. Of a friend."

There was an awkward silence before Anri piped up. "When and where is your next concert gonna be? And what about your next album? When's that coming out?"

"I'm not so sure when my next concert will be, but it'll probably be soon, in a few months or so. And where? That's uncertain too. But since I just came out with an album, it'll definitely be another year before I get my next one out!"

The mothers then came up and thanked me profusely before I returned to Kyoya, whose face was unfortunately wiped clean.

"Yo," I greeted him. He nodded in response.

I checked the time. "Woah, it's already almost 5! Time flies, huh?"

Again, he nodded. I raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? You're unusually…silent."

"I'm always like this," Kyoya muttered. "You just talk so much that you don't notice."

I ignored the jab, checking my messages. There were only ones from the group chat, making fun of Kyoya, but he had shut them all down.

"So what's the rest?"

"Huh? Oh…" I pondered about it, and frowned. "Maybe another day."

The bright lights and the polished white tiles…I could hear their voices, smell the disinfectant, the tension and suspense, the air of…

"Toru?"

The air of…

"Toru!" A hand in front of my face snapped me out of it. "Anyone in there?"

"O-oh. It's nothing. Nothing. Let's get outta here." Hastily I marched out of the department store, and into the cold, dark street. People were still milling about. Kyoya chased after me.

"After that your mother died right? From a terminal illness."

I stopped walking, underneath a streetlight. Ouch. Only he could be so direct. "Yeah. She did."

He caught up. "And do you blame us for not saving her? For not giving her the care she needed?"

"No, no." I shook my head. "I know everyone tried as hard as they could. If I blamed Ootori Medical, I would've attacked you as soon as I found out you were an Ootori. It's just the guilt, you know? Of not being able to say the things you want before they go."

I closed my eyes, hoping to stop my eyes from watering up. C'mon, Toru. You're a tough girl. It's been three years now. About time you've gotten over it. A single tear still slipped out. Stop crying, you're not a wimp.

"Uh…is there anything I can do?" Kyoya sounded so uncertain and shaky that I laughed a little.

"No, no. It's alright. I-I should probably get going now. Sorry about having to see me like this. I'm a mess, I know." I pulled out my sunglasses and put them on. I smiled. "And thanks. I had an okay time today."

And Kyoya smiled back. Not an evil, creepy, or manipulative smile. Just a normal, genuine one. "Yeah. Me too."

Still smiling, I stepped away, from under the streetlight into the darkness of the city.

* * *

 **I know this one was long, so just bear with me a little longer!**

 **I hate to say this after I've finally updated, but I won't be able to update for the rest of the month. I'm going on vacation, and I'll be really busy. But after I come back, I'll definitely update more often. :)**

 **Thanks so much for reading! It means a lot to me!**


	10. Chapter 10

I trudged into the kitchen, wiping my eyes and yawning. I could smell the delicious breakfast that Misaki was cooking me. The sizzling of the pan, however, was accompanied by the sound of Akira yelling at some poor soul over the phone.

So I guess it was a fairly normal morning.

"Hey, Misaki. What's Akira so worked up about?" I plopped down in a chair and propped my head up, trying not to fall asleep.

"Um…" Her voice was hesitant. "Take a look at the magazine on the table."

"Hm?" I looked down beside me. On the cover was a shot of Kyoya and me. I was laughing, while Kyoya had an annoyedly amused look. Splashed across the photo was…

Oh no.

Bold yellow letters that screamed "Hikari's Lover?!"

"You've got to be kidding me." I flipped through the pages to find the article in a panicked craze.

Skimming through the paragraphs, the main gist was that he and I were out together the whole day, that we went shopping and whatnot. I noted that Kyoya's name wasn't mentioned, but was just referred to as "he." And then I saw the last photo. It was of me, trying not to cry, as Kyoya looked on impassively. There was a paragraph about that, speculating about whether we had broken up.

I wanted to scream. There was no relationship in the first place to break up!

And then finally, the last few words revealed that while it was uncertain, it looked to be that the boy who was with me was Kyoya Ootori, the youngest son of the leader of the Ootori group.

I took deep breaths, trying to take it all in, and turned to Misaki. "Wait. I still don't get it. Why is Akira so upset? I mean, yeah it's stupid, but they have every right to print that."

"Well…" She turned over a piece of bacon. "She kinda forced every company out there to sign a contract to not publish any photos of you."

"What?!" I then turned to Akira, who was strolling in, done with her long conversation. "You can't just do that!"

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Uh, as your manager, I think I can."

I turned back to Misaki. "Wait, I thought you were the responsible one! Where were you when she was doing this?"

"Ouch." Akira rolled her eyes like a moody teenager.

Misaki shrugged. "Helping her."

"Agh." I buried my face in my hands. "You two…now they're going to think I'm some lunatic."

"Hey, at least the whole world wouldn't think that you were off with some guy…if it had actually worked," Misaki pointed out.

Well, crap. I sighed. I had to get Kyoya dragged into this whole thing. I wondered how he was doing. Had he seen the magazine?

* * *

"What is this?" His voice was low and strangely calm, which meant he was especially angry. A trembling hand shook the magazine in the air.

For once, Kyoya couldn't find the right words.

"You wasted the entire day with that girl?!" He slapped the magazine down.

"Actually, it was only four hours…" Kyoya muttered.

There was merely shuffling, and a sigh. "Go."

"Pardon?" Kyoya looked up, masking his surprise.

"Just leave." His father had one hand over his eyes, and the other shooing him away."

"As you wish." Kyoya bowed out of the room, this mind whirring with thoughts.

Why? Had Toru made a good impression on him before? That was the first time he had come out of that room unscathed. His curiosity ate away at him for the rest of the day.

* * *

I slowly and awkwardly stepped into the school, cringing from all the stares I got. Finally, one girl had the guts to come up to me and hand me a pen and paper. "U-um, H-Hikari, could you possibly…?"

I grabbed the pen and signed. "Yep." Then I continued on.

The rest of the school day was filled with stares and autographs. People that I had never talked to came up to me and started asking questions like the reporters.

At the end of the day, I found myself trudging up to the club room, exhausted. I opened the door, ignoring the welcome and the rose petals and the obnoxiously white light, sat myself down, and let out a long breath. "Ahmsuhtahd." I plonked my head down on the table. "Guhnaht. Swehdehms."

"Wait, what?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm so tired. Goodnight. Sweet dreams," Haruhi translated surprisingly accurately.

"Ahem." Kyoya tapped me on the shoulder. "You still have a job to do here."

"Mm. Juhtehkmahfut. Ehmahbagpah." I started to drift off.

"Hey! Hey!" He shook me violently. He turned to Haruhi. "Wait, what'd she even say?"

"Just take my flute. In my backpack," she stated matter-of-factly.

A group of girls entered the room. They turned and saw me. "Oh!" They ran forward. "Hikari, we have to ask you something!"

I muttered a curse under my breath and pulled myself up. "Yes?"

"Oh, so that's what gets her up," Kyoya muttered under his breath.

"So, is it true you and Kyoya are dating?"

My eyes popped open. "Oh, hell no! Who'd date a-"

Everyone stared.

"Um…" I cleared my throat. "I mean, no. Never. Just no. Just…yeah. No."

"Ah…I see." They looked a little crestfallen. An awkward silence took over the room.

Kyoya cleared his throat. "Well, Toru, now that you're up, please set up your flute over there."

Dammit. I wasn't sleepy anymore. Angrily, I tucked my flute under my arm and marched over by the piano.

* * *

I closed my flute case with a click as Kyoya came over. "Ah, Toru. Please prepare for a concert in two weeks' time."

"Oh, come on!" I crossed my arms. "That's way too soon. I need more time."

"Sorry." He shrugged. "And don't worry, it'll be like normal club activities. And Tamaki will be your accompanist, so he'll attract more attention than you. You'll just be a side attraction."

Well, way to make me feel needed.

"And besides, we already told everyone it would be that date."

I groaned.

"Date?" Tamaki came skipping over. "Did someone say a-"

"Nope." We cut him off simultaneously.

Kyoya began to turn away when I spoke. "Ah, Kyoya."

He turned.

"I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble with...all this. I hope your father wasn't too angry."

"It's okay. He wasn't too mad." He paused. "This fame of yours isn't half-bad either. It's increased our sales dramatically."

He stepped away as I stared off into space, wondering. Then what he said hit me.

"Wait, what?!" I screeched. "Am I just a walking lump of money to you?! Are you flippin' kidding me?!"

I watched as his shoulders slightly shook.

Huh?

Did he just…

Laugh?


End file.
